SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS004
ARLS004 Tentative Phase 3D Launch Date Reset

ZCZC AS04  
QST de W1AW  
Space Bulletin 004  ARLS004
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington, CT  June 14, 2000
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE ARL ARLS004
ARLS004 Tentative Phase 3D Launch Date Reset

The Phase 3D Amateur Radio satellite will not launch until September
at the earliest. Under the latest tentative Arianespace launch
schedule, P3D now could go up on the Ariane Flight 507 as early as
mid-September, but the launch could be as late as the end of
October.

Arianespace recently announced a resumption of Ariane flights.
Flight 507 had been on the schedule to go into space in July, but
concerns over potentially defective thrusters had caused some major
customers to delay flight preparations. AMSAT-NA President Keith
Baker, KB1SF, called the Arianespace announcement ''very good news''
for the Phase 3D program.

The Phase 3D satellite is at the European Spaceport in Kourou,
French Guiana, awaiting the start of its launch campaign.

Arianespace representatives met recently with Phase 3D
representatives at AMSAT-DL headquarters in Marburg, Germany, to
discuss preparations for the P3D launch campaign. The exact date of
the Phase 3D mission's launch depends on the Ariane 506 launch, set
for July, and the availability of the other satellites flying with
P3D.

A launch contract accepting Phase 3D as a payload for the first
suitable Ariane 5 launch vehicle was signed last October.
NNNN
/EX